Founded in 1995, Axiom Manufacturing Services delivers bespoke manufacturing and test solutions for high IP, low-to-medium volume electronics. With 300 employees, Axiom operates a 300,000 square foot facility in the UK, with capacity to scale. From design to delivery to market, the company develops new solutions that power innovation in the medical, commercial, defense and aerospace sectors.
In addition to the APS and Mobile Application systems, the core Syspro solution was configured using Inventory Control, Work in Progress, Finance, Sales Orders, Bill of Materials and Material Requirements Planning modules. To optimize its use of the system, Axiom undertook a series of training, blueprinting and prototyping sessions to specify, test and approve the solutions in relation to the key business needs.
A detailed manufacturing route was established for each product, accommodating more than 500 live assemblies and 30 unique manufacturing processes. Using APS, Axiom creates a real-time manufacturing plan based on the sales order book, manufacturing routes and capacity at each work center.
Touch screen displays communicate jobs and priorities to the workforce and capture data in progress which is fed back into APS. Manufacturing staff are able to see a real-time display of the jobs running on each machine in their area. When initiating a new job, the operator can see a list of jobs in priority order.
Axiom launches and manages more than 200 works orders each month, each of which has a kit of components required for the manufacturing process. With multiple orders using many common components, the company needed a way to issue materials to works orders in real time. The direct interface between the Mobile Applications module and Syspro uses RF technology to pull down works order requirements and write back component issues by quantity and lot code as the operator picks the components.
This solution, coupled with the unique identification of component packages with barcoded part and lot numbers, gives Axiom a fast and efficient way to trace component lot numbers to works orders and ultimately to product serial numbers.
In a fast moving and continually changing environment, the Syspro solution provides flexibility to suit Axiom’s immediate needs while maintaining a core of standard functionality for future upgrades. Syspro Advanced Planning & Scheduling (APS) provides real-time shop floor scheduling and data capture, while Mobile Applications are used for real-time material issues.
In a market characterized by demanding traceability requirements, Axiom needed efficient, affordable component and product traceability. With the Syspro solution, Axiom is able to allocate serial numbers which can be tracked to parent products and boxed quantities. This allows the company to create ‘Certificates of Conformity’ for complex assemblies.
With the scope of its business increasing, Axiom needed to manage higher levels of complexity, and its existing IT solutions were no longer able to support the company’s growth trajectory. The Material Requirements Planning (MRP) system lacked integration with Axiom’s finance ledgers, and key business support processes were run offline on a series of spreadsheets.
After extensive market research, Syspro was selected as the solution which best met Axiom’s specific requirements. The fully integrated systems architecture forms the backbone of Axiom’s manufacturing solution and allows for consistent, efficient and fast data management.
